1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control system for a multi-branching track, and more particularly to a system of the above-noted type including a storage means storing data for selectively guiding a vehicle to one of a plurality of branch tracks, the storage means being disposed before a branch point of a vehicle travelling track and read means mounted on the vehicle for reading the data stored at the storage means.
2 Description of the Related Art
A conventional vehicle control system of the above-described type is disclosed in e.g. the Japanese laid-open patent gazette No. 63-124113. This convention will be briefly described next.
In this system, a storage means (commonly referred to as an ID card or ID tag) having a writable memory and a wireless communication means is provided at a position before a branching point where a single branch track branches from a main track. The storage means stores data of an address of a station included in the branch track.
On the other hand, a vehicle includes a wireless communication means for communication with the storage means and through this means the vehicle reads the data stored at the storage means when the vehicle reaches the location before the branching point. Upon detection of presence of address data of a target station, the vehicle is guided to the branch track. With detection of absence of the data, on the other hand, the vehicle keeps travelling on the main travelling track without switching over to the branch track.
This conventional system has the advantage of flexiblity to cope with a change in the layout of the stations only through re-writing of the data stored at the storage means.
However, the conventional system is usable only for selective vehicle guidance between the main travelling track and one branch track. Furthermore, for simplicity of the system, the data stored at the storage means comprises only the address data of the station positioned within the branch track. Accordingly, the selective vehicle guidance of the system is effected only between the main track and the branch track depending on the presence or absence of the address data.
As a result, the conventional system is not usable for selectively guiding the vehicle among more than three tracks, e.g. one main track and right and left branch tracks.
The present invention attends to this inconvenience of the convention and its primary object is to provide an improved vehicle control system for a multi-branching track which system is usable for selective vehicle guidance among more than three tracks through communication with a storage means positioned before a branching point and storing data relating to the itinerary of the vehicle.